To serve the Lord and share his Gospel

I’ve finished an agenda book. An entire Cambio here in Honduras. Woah, super crazy! We have cambios on Wednesday, I doubt I’ll be reassigned since I’ve only been here one change, and Hna Marroquin is training me, but I won’t find out for sure until tonight so…I’ll let you know.

Oh my, it’s so hard to remember things! ah! Okay. On Sunday we went to go visit some recent converts with our Ward Mission Leader, and about 10 minutes in the other Elders in our ward showed up too #awkward and about five minutes after that the visiting teacher of the convert came! #somethingsgoingonhere. Ha it was crazy, but then we found out that Doloris (that’s her name) had been having a bad day and that all the people showing up was God’s way of showing her that he cared about her. I love that the Lord answers our prayers according to our understanding. Something that seems common place, or awkward (like all the missionaries in the ward showing up to the same place) can be an answer to someone’s prayers.

So my companion and I have this joke that if one of us is annoying the other, we threaten to make them sleep outside. Ha, so I locked the door after me once this week and she ended up climbing in through the window. I would have let her in…Eventually. Also, she has some Raybands that look pretty spiffy. I’ll attach a photo.

It’s also super interesting that I love being taught. Maybe because now I appreciate how hard it can be to put together a lesson that is simple and powerful. We had a Family Home Evening with one of the members last week and he taught the importance of the Sacrament using Moroni Chapter 6…I think, I’m pretty sure it was chapter 6…anyway, it was super powerful. I love that everyone has a different way of teaching, and they are all good, each of us has a unique gift, a unique way of touching people. I love it. I’m so glad we’re not all the same.

Also this week we went around doing service one of the mornings and I was able to help a kid with his English homework. As I pondered the experience later I realized that I really enjoyed it. Maybe when I get back to the states I’ll change my major and become a teacher. I have a year and a half before I have to worry too much about it.

Hey everyone it’s so good to hear from you. I love getting your letters.

This week has been awesome. ha, but it was also a little rough for a while there. Basically everything hit at once. The language, misunderstandings with my companion, a lack of progress, I don’t know, everything. And I was lucky enough to have that happen when we had interviews with the president. He gave me some great advice to talk to my companion, and even though I was being prideful (I thought I knew better than him that my companion wouldn’t want to hear my opinion) I tried to open up to her, and found out that all along, we’d been thinking the same things. We just hadn’t told each other. Ha, what a foolish mistake, think of all that time wasted when I could have just talked to her. I’m just glad she’s my trainer and we’ll have two cambios together at least (3 months).

At least I’m relatively sure we will. There were three sisters this last cambio that are training with only six weeks in the mission. How crazy is that? The Lord is truly hastening his work, and we have to help out in every way possible.

This week we had a good talk with the Ward Mission Leader about what needs to happen here (I know, I know, It should have happened weeks ago) The plan is to teach families, The problem in Honduras is that they have a lot of baptisms, but basically no retention. This past year there’s been 50 baptisms and only 7 of them are attending church. #thatsaproblem. So the plan is to get references from strong, active families, and teach families, both part member families and newly referred families. I have gained a whole new testimony of the importance of friendship in missionary work. Not just from the missionaries, but from the ward members as well. These children of God need a friend they can turn to when the missionaries leave. I definitely am going to be better at that when I come back.

There’s not a whole lot more that’s happened this week. We lost a lot of time because we had interviews, and my companion qualified for residency so we had to go get that done. #livinlegalnow. There was a miscommunication and we showed up on the wrong day. That was a little frustrating, but we actually talked to a lady that was in our area that needed some help. Isn’t it awesome that Heavenly Father can turn our weaknesses and mistakes into blessings? How beautiful it is that he trusts us with the “fine china” so to speak, of people’s souls. And he will strengthen our hands so that we won’t drop them.

I love you all. I pray for you, and I know that God is aware of your needs. He will shape your back to the burden placed upon it.

Can you believe it’s been two months since I left Utah? What an adventure, what a blessing, and what an opportunity to share the gospel with those who don’t have it. I left my journal at home so I’ll probably forget a mountain of things, but that’s probably good after seeing how long my last letter was.

This week has been awesome. We had divisions for the first time with the sister training leaders and I got to go to another area and learn from Sister Tolliver. I learned a lot about how to work with members. I also had a really cool experience with one of the families. Theres three girls that are the kids, and the mom is pregnant with another one, who they just found out doesn’t have a brain. Just looking at her and her family I came to appreciate my mom so much more, and the sacrifices she’s made for me. I love that family so much. It’s amazing to me that I can love them like that after only meeting them once. I think it’s because I can see their potential more clearly because I know how I feel about the gospel and about my family. The division also made me appreciate my area, my apartment and my companion that much more. I really missed this area.

There was another Soccer game this week, but it was at night so the Mission President asked us to be home a little early and not be on the streets. During the game there was no one on the streets, but you could tell when it finished because the streets were flooded. There was some fireworks afterwards that went for at least half an hour, if not more.

I held a butterfly this week! I didn’t even have to catch it, it was just sitting on a tree, and I got it down and it stayed on my finger for a good 20 seconds. It was awesome. Huge and yellow and black.

We had two investigators come to church this week; one is the wife of a recent convert, and lives on the other side of the creek. She stayed for the whole block, but she lives on the other side of the river, and the bishop asked us not to go there anymore, so we’re going to talk to the elders and see if maybe they can visit her, or maybe we can meet her in the church or something.

The other was a guy that actually talked to us on the street. I thought he was just talking to us because we were girls, but he seemed genuinely interested in what was happening in the sacrament meeting, so depending on how it goes the Elders can visit him.

Also we talked to the Bishop about getting a big map of the area. I think it would really help us because we’ll be able to see where everyone lives and organize our schedule for the best so we can spend as much time teaching as possible.

So this week we were proselyting with Evelin, she’s a young single mother with two little girls, and is seriously one of my biggest examples here. She has an amazing light about her, her testimony is so strong, and she is so good at connecting with the youth of our ward. Anyway we were proselyting with her and her kids and stopped by the Bishop’s house, He got some medicine because her youngest had a fever and was asking how much he should give her. Another guy asked “cuantos anos tiene?” which in Spanish means “how old are you?” or “how old is she?”…I thought he was asking me, so I replied “19, and my companion 20″…about thirty seconds later I realized he was asking how old Evelin’s daughter was so he could know how much medicine to give her.

Oh…Entiendo..I understand. ha, but everyone laughed, and that helped me feel not quite so embarrassed.

Anyway, I love you guys, and I’m loving the mission, God has a plan, I’m just working on figuring out what he wants me to do.

You guys are awesome. I can hardly believe I’ve been in Honduras for Two weeks! Its so crazy! and Awesome! ha. I seriously love it.

Okay I honestly can’t remember what was in my last email and I don’t feel like rereading it so I’m sorry if I repeat anything.

My area. Las Brisas. (Don’t worry; it took me till yesterday to find out that it means “The Breezes” yep. #whatlanguageamisupposedtobespeakingagain) Turn out that I lied to you last week, It’s been an area since 2009. The “Carpeta” or Area Book has a page where all the Missionaries who have served here write their names. Hma Marroquin and I are the first sisters #girlpower Apperently it’s really really small. But I wouldn’t really know since I have nothing to compare it to but the MTC ha.

We don’t have hot water. Which actually is not a big deal at all since its so hot here. Its also really nice in the mornings, because let’s be honest, nothing wakes you up like a cold shower. I really do like the area though. We’re just outside the city so the stake center “El Benque” is only a short bus ride away. But let me clarify something, when I say “Bus” its not the same kind of bus you usually think of. Its really a van. With a sliding door. That they’ve stuffed as many chairs in as they can. Ha, but I love it, really, I love everything here. Including the Baleadas (look them up).

My companion is awesome; she’s from Guatamala and is a native speaker. Super Filas…or Pilas…I don’t really know ha, but it means Super awesome. She’s a great teacher, and she has all these awesome object lessons for the concepts of the gospel that are really effective to help people understand. She’s super funny. Most the time the jokes go right over my head, but the ones I do understand are hilarious. Also, when she asks you a question it’s like she’s looking into your soul. It’s pretty cool. ha, This week we were visiting a family in the ward and she asked if the man sitting in the corner was the father of the women we were talking to. Turns out it was her husband. Haha, and yesterday we were teaching a younger man and woman that were members of the church and she asked how long they had been married. Turns out they weren’t ha, he was just visiting. I think they were dating, but I’m not really sure how to ask that in Spanish so I don’t know for sure.

Last week we were going to visit a recent convert. Turns out he lives on the other side of a creek. A pretty decently sized creek. And there were no stepping stones. Ha, I was joking with my Hma, Marroquin and Evelin (the member that was with us) that my Husband had better be really handsome because I was doing this. ha. But on the other side we ended up contacting a woman who was super receptive to our message, and that was blessing enough. But really it was an awesome experience, because the laughter brought me and my companion closer together, and lifted my spirits.

I got to wash my clothes by hand this week! What an adventure! It’s actually really soothing. ha, #gonnabeagreathomemaker

Something that has taken some getting used to has been the accents. Some people have really think accents, others none at all. I can understand most of what my companion says, and the missionaries from US or Mexico, but in Honduras,a lot of people don’t say their “S”s. so instead of Nosotros its Nohotros, or sabe is habe. It gets interesting; especially when they’re talking really fast, but I’m starting to pick up a little so that’s nice.

A couple nights ago the bishop called and asked if we had been praying hard for a baptizm, turns out a kid had contacted him and wanted get baptized, so we get to teach him the lessons. Our first one with him is this week, so I’ll let you know how it goes.

Last week I learned a lot about Faith. I don’t have time to tell the whole story, but I wrote it in my journal. But the theme was D&C 6:36 “Doubt not, fear not” This week’s theme has been “Be Bold”. Especially in following the spirit. I definitely have a lot to work on, but I’m so glad God is teaching me, and knows what I need. I’ve also been trying to speak more. It reminds me of Hmo Hardy’s saying, “speak until your tongue bleeds” I wasn’t as good as I should have been in the MTC, but now I realize it also means to be bold, even if the only thing I can think to ask is, “cuantos anos tiene”, How old are you?

I’ve also been opened to a whole new world of scripture study. I learn something new every day.